Softworks Blog

With the season of Christmas parties, boozy lunches and festive drinks upon us, many organisations will experience increased “sickies” this month. Did you know that the cost and disruption of short spells of absence and questionable "sickies" is often far greater than for occasional, longer periods of absence? This is why more and more organisations are using The Bradford Factor to discourage and tackle short spells of absence.

The Bradford Factor is often used due to the fact that it, both proactively discourages unnecessary absence in the first place, and it uses set procedures to identify and tackle persistent absenteeism. The Bradford Factor measures the number of absence incidents and the duration of each incident to compute an absence score for each employee.

Evidence from industry suggests; that the higher the score, the more disruption the employee’s absence is causing an organisation. It is important to bear in mind if using the Bradford Factor that it is only one method of looking at absence and may not be appropriate for all organisations. The scores act best as a trigger to prompt line managers to investigate a case further. If you would like to read more about the Bradford Factor, you are very welcome to download Softworks Free Guide.

Most time and attendance systems simply track absenteeism. Softworks solutions go deeper by focusing on the frequency of absences, problem areas and/or employees, which in turn, enables organizations to take proactive measures to improve attendance. For many organizations, the cost and disruption of persistent, short spells of absence are greater than for occasional, longer periods of absence. To address this problem, we have developed a formula based on the Bradford factor, which measures the number of incidences and the duration of each incidence to compute an absence score for each employee. I've set out below some further information about how your business can use the Bradford Factor to measure and tackle employee absence.

Why Many Organizations Use the Bradford Factor

The Bradford Factor is used by many organizations due to the fact that it both proactively discourages unnecessary absence in the first place, and it uses a set procedure to identify and tackle persistent absenteeism. The Bradford Factor measures the number of absence incidents and the duration of each incident to compute an absence score for each employee. Evidence from industry suggests; that the higher the score, the more disruption the employee’s absence is causing an organization. It is important to bear in mind if using the Bradford Factor that it is only one method of looking at absence and may not be appropriate for all organizations. The scores act best as a trigger to prompt line managers to investigate a case further.

How is the score calculated?

The Bradford Factor Score is calculated using the following formula: S x S x D where

S is the number of spells of absence of an individual over a given period; and

D is the total number of days of absence of the individual over the same period.

So for employees with 10 days' absence in one year, differently distributed, the score can vary enormously:

1 absence of 10 days is 10 points (1 x 1 x 10)

5 absences of two days each is 250 points (5 x 5 x 10)

10 days of one day each is 1000 points (10 x 10 x 10)

Whereas using the traditional percentage method, all would result in the same percentage. Using this formula, Managers can see at a glance, the effects of employee absence on the organization as a whole as well as a comparison between departments.

How is it used?

The Bradford Factor is generally used by organizations to identify employees with frequent short-term absences. Short term absences are often considered more disruptive than long term absences, due to the fact that, it’s often easier to make arrangements to cover an employee who is going to be off for long periods. Employees taking odd days off here and there are considered more disruptive to the business and a lot harder to plan for. They can have an immediate effect, and if recurrent, they are likely to arouse suspicions over the genuineness of the absences. The more frequent the absences the higher the score. Managers therefore monitor scores so that if an employee hits a certain score/trigger point, further investigation or action can be taken. This in itself can act as a deterrent to employees who do take absence for non-genuine reasons. A number of organizations have reported that absence is reduced when Bradford scores are first introduced, which may be due to the use of this system, as a visible warning and deterrent to employees.

Things to consider if using

Bradford scores should not form the only basis for important decisions such as disciplinary action due to persistent absenteeism. Additional analysis and consideration of each individual case is an essential companion to the use of The Bradford Factor. Bradford scores focus purely on short-term absence and can therefore easily distract attention from the problems of long-term absence. The safest approach to using this measure is to ensure that important decisions; are not based around Bradford scores alone. These scores act best as a trigger to prompt managers to examine further.

The Bradford Factor also concentrates on the number of instances and length of time absent, but doesn’t pick up on other trends such as days of the week, particular shifts, sporting events, etc. Therefore, the analysis is limited in terms of tracking absenteeism trends. Furthermore, the Bradford Factor calculation is worked out for each individual employee so it can be reasonably complicated to work out on a departmental/company-wide level. This problem can however be surmounted, with the use of a good time & attendance system, which can automatically calculate the Bradford Factor points score, rank employees and trigger alerts when issues arise.

Summary

There are no hard and fast rules for using the Bradford Factor; it is effectively down to each individual organization to decide how it will use the score. Used effectively, the Bradford Factor can undoubtedly reduce absenteeism and serve as a deterrent to persistent offenders. Studies have shown that by educating employees about the Bradford Factor, and informing them of their score on a regular basis, absenteeism can be dramatically reduced. This is largely down to employees realizing that taking the odd day off here and there will quickly multiply their Bradford Factor score. The Bradford Factor places a value on the absence which an employee can clearly see. Where the absence is not absolutely necessary, this can serve to deter absenteeism. If you would like a demonstration of Softworks Absence Management Solutions, contact us today.

Absenteeism is one of the most persistent obstacles to productivity, profitability and competitiveness. Organisations measure employee absence in a number of ways - including and excluding different types of absence. As a result, one company may have a higher absence rate than another organisation, simply because it includes more non-sickness variables when measuring absence.

Many companies fail to distinguish clearly between short-term and long-term absence which can have serious implications to both the organisation's understanding and management of absence issues. Short term absences are often considered more disruptive than long term absences, due to the fact that it’s often easier to make arrangements to cover an employee who is going to be off for long periods. That said, long term absence can be extremely costly to an organisation, therefore it’s very important to track both. One tool that is often used to measure short term absences is; The Bradford Factor.

The Bradford Factor is effectively a formula for measuring employee absence. It measures the number of absence incidents and the duration of each incident, to compute an absence score for each employee. The more absences an employee takes, the higher the score. Therefore, an employee who is absent for 12 days in a row has a much lower Bradford score than an employee who is absent on 12 separate days during the year (e.g. one Monday every month). The score can then be used to monitor trends in sickness absence, to provide ‘trigger’ points for further investigation or action and to offer comparisons with absence rates across the organisation as a whole.

The Bradford Factor was first developed in the 1980s and has caused some debate over the years. It was originally designed to be used as part of the overall investigation and management of absenteeism. Therefore, it should always be used as part of your overall absenteeism strategy and not as a stand-alone method of tracking and responding to absenteeism issues.